Lake Julius was formed following the construction of Julius Dam in 1976 for irrigation and town water storage. The dam wall is located just below the junction of the

Leichhardt River The Leichhardt River is a river in north west Queensland, Australia. Course The source of the river is in the Selwyn Range under Rifle Creek Hill and fed by Rifle Creek approximately south of the mining town Mount Isa. It runs in a generally n ...

and Paroo Creek some North East of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive single mines in world history, base ...

. With a catchment area of 4,845 square kilometres it has a full supply capacity of , a surface area of with an average depth of . The dam is unique in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

and is a concrete multiple arch and buttress type structure, with the

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure th ...

discharging over the tops of the arches. The spillway crest is above bed level. The arch barrels, founded on a triangular arch base, are constructed in independent arch rings and are hinged at buttress springing lines. The spillway is a precast superstructure and the dissipation slab at ground level is post tensioned to the foundation rock. The dam has a total storage capacity of , and has a full supply level of 223.54m AHD. After recording its lowest level of 0% in September 2002, the dam filled to a maximum of 169.73% of capacity on January 15, 2004, after record breaking rainfall upstream at Mt Isa. SunWater is undertaking a dam spillway capacity upgrade program.Spillway Capacity Upgrade Program

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Julius, Lake North West Queensland Reservoirs in Queensland

See also

References